Going Places- Part 1

So bags packed? Watermelon and camera ready? Your favourite
ice-cream brick stocked in the fridge? Good. Starting off with the first post
of my ‘travel sperm’ diary, I bring to you few destinations which constitute
the earliest travel memories for me. Enjoy the young me in the pics!

I have been to a lot of places in Rajasthan over several
trips. The earliest one was in 1998 when I was in Class 1. Udaipur. Yeah, I
have very faint memories from that trip. A few things which I do have some
photographic memories of include the Udaipur Lake and the huge palace. I think
we even visited Chhittorgarh. Actually we did. A photograph of me standing in
front of the Vijay Stambh proves it!

Then there was this visit to Mount Abu. My father had been
influenced by the Brahma Kumaris and so he had taken us to Mt. Abu in 2006. The
lectures at the Ashram were boring of course but Rajasthan’s only hill station
had a beauty about itself. I remember climbing the many hundred steps to reach
the town top at Guru Shikhar, the view at the sunset point, the Nakki Lake and
of course the beautiful Brahma Kumaris campus.

The only trip, of which I have an ample memory of, is probably
the trip to Jaipur that I took with my relatives last October. Starting right
from the City Palace, Hawa Mahal, Jantar Mantar, ISCKON Temple to Chokhi Dhani,
light and sound show at Amber Fort and Jaigarh Fort, the three day car-trip
from Delhi is beautifully etched in my memory. (Well, the cops in Jaipur do
have a keen eye. I didn’t have the seat belt on and it cost us 500 bucks!)

Another trip to Rajasthan is awaited by me- one which would
include camping in the desert. Amidst the dunes and camels and an oasis, it
should be fun!

The Trip to the Hills-
Darjeeling and Gangtok

Darjeeling yeah! The first thing that comes to my mind when
I think of this beautiful hill station is disappointment. Disappointment of a
young train lover of not being able to travel on the toy train!

I visited Darjeeling and Gangtok in 1999 with mine and a
childhood friend’s families. The trip had started from Sambalpur, my hometown,
via Calcutta and Jalpaiguri to Darjeeling (By bus and not toy train) and
Gangtok (by jeep). We had been to the Indian Mountaineering Foundation, had
travelled by the cable car (which I think was shut down for many years after
that), took the dangerously winding downhill road to the rock garden in a
Maruti Omni, clicked pictures with the toy train at Batasia Loop and our
parents got into the tea-planters get-up at one of the tea gardens.

The visit to the Tsongmo Lake in Gangtok is one which I
would remember every time I visit a hill station. Two reasons- One, due to the
cold, all the exposed areas of my body including my face (the parts that the
monkey cap didn’t cover) and a hand had swelled. That was when I was told that
I am not suitable to visit very cold places. (Talk about my dream of having a huge bungalow in a snow-covered hill
resort!!) And the second and bigger reason- I lost the Tazo inside my Lays packet! (Well,
if you are wondering, I still have my entire Tazo collection at home! Don’t
laugh!)

Another important thing about this trip- I could never
forget in any of my Geography classes that Kanchenjunga is in the Sikkim-Nepal
border, is the third highest mountain peak in the world (and of course, is
beautiful). I am surely going to make another trip to Darjeeling sometime in my
life and shall make sure I travel by the Toy Train! [;)]

Manchester of the
East

A Google search told me that Ahmedabad is termed as
Manchester of the East due to its huge textile industry. I never went to
Ahmedabad to visit the place. It just happened to be a train-change mediator station
while we were going to Mt. Abu in 2006. The brief one-day stay on our way to
and from Mt. Abu at Ahmedabad wasn’t anything less memorable. We saw the
laser-show at the musical fountain (I don’t remember at which place) which was
amazing. It was this visit when I got to know that there was a big temple
called ‘Akshardham’ in Gandhinagar where there had been a terrorist attack
recently. We never visited the temple but at least I was excited to visit the
Akshardham temple at Delhi after that.

We had also visited the Sabarmati Ashram, the zoo (which I
had found really boring and small after being to the NandanKanan zoo just few
weeks ago) and I had cried in vain for persuading my parents to buy me the
recent Harry Potter movie DVD. Haha… (Now I own all 8 DVDs of the series! [cruel smile] )

(Almost all the photos in the slideshow are photos of printed photos and so the clarity is missing)

Have you been to any of these places? If yes, how was your
experience? Do share with me. Keep an eye for the next post in this series with
some more amazing destinations in India. :)

nice to read about your travel experiences! :)in Rajasthan i have been to Ajmer(faint memories,i was merely 6 yrs! )in mausi's wedding!Ajmer shareef was the attraction for the elders!n for me,counting the millions of camels on the sandy roads! :D :)n darjeeling!i went only for a day,as a trip extension from calcutta!n yes i travelled in the toy train till the highest railway station of india!! :D (wicked laugh) n yes that link that sends me to ur childhood pics is g8! :)